Merkel leads EU calls for Ukraine to reform

By RAF CASERT , Associated Press

Nov. 18, 20131:17 PM ET

BRUSSELS (AP) — German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Monday led European Union calls for Ukraine to reform its judicial system beyond the case of jailed former prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko before the bloc signs any association agreement with Kiev.

Markus Schreiber

German Chancellor Angela Merkel delivers her speech at the German parliament Bundestag in Berlin, Monday, Nov. 18, 2013. German Chancellor Angela Merkel says the relationship between Germany and the United States as well as the future of a transatlantic free trade agreement have been "put to the test" by allegations of massive spying by the U.S. National Security Agency. During a statement Monday to Parliament, Merkel called the allegations about NSA spying "grave" and said they must be investigated to re-establish trust. At the same time, Merkel said the alliance with Washington "remains a fundamental guarantor for our freedom and our security." The reflections are in windows at the visitors tribune (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)

German Chancellor Angela Merkel delivers her speech at the German parliament Bundestag in Berlin, Monday, Nov. 18, 2013. German Chancellor Angela Merkel says the relationship between Germany and the United States as well as the future of a transatlantic free trade agreement have been "put to the test" by allegations of massive spying by the U.S. National Security Agency. During a statement Monday to Parliament, Merkel called the allegations about NSA spying "grave" and said they must be investigated to re-establish trust. At the same time, Merkel said the alliance with Washington "remains a fundamental guarantor for our freedom and our security." The reflections are in windows at the visitors tribune (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)

German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle takes his place at the podium during a media conference after a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels on Monday, Nov. 18, 2013. EU foreign ministers met in Brussels Monday to discuss, among other issues, Syria's poison gas stockpile. The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons has adopted a plan to destroy Damascus's estimated 1,300-ton arsenal, which includes mustard gas and sarin, outside Syria, but has yet to find a country willing to host the risky operation. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo)

FILE - In this Wednesday, Nov. 13, 2013 file photo, former President of the European Parliament Patrick Cox, right, and former Polish President Aleksander Kwasniewski, watch a parliament session in Kiev, Ukraine. More than 20 years after gaining independence from the Soviet Union and painfully searching for its place on the geopolitical map, Ukraine finally has a real chance to firmly align itself with the EU, with its democratic standards and free-market zone. The alternative is to slide back into Russia's shadow, both politically and economically. (AP Photo/ Efrem Lukatsky, File)

FILE - In this Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2013 file photo, an activist of the Ukrainian Opposition Party holds a poster with a photo of former Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko outside the Kiev City council building, during a protest rally demanding a re-election of the city council, in Kiev, Ukraine. More than 20 years after gaining independence from the Soviet Union and painfully searching for its place on the geopolitical map, Ukraine finally has a real chance to firmly align itself with the EU, with its democratic standards and free-market zone. The alternative is to slide back into Russia's shadow, both politically and economically. (AP Photo/ Sergei Chuzavkov, File)

German Chancellor Angela Merkel listens to the debate about the European policy and the German relationship to the United States during a meeting of the German parliament, Bundestag, in Berlin, Monday, Nov. 18, 2013. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)

Merkel called on Ukraine to take "credible steps" to overcome politically motivated "selective justice" ahead of next week's summit in Vilnius, Lithuania, where the EU is slated to sign a landmark deal with Ukraine.

On top of judicial reform, the 28 EU members also want to see changes in Ukraine's electoral legislation.

Monday's calls set off a week of intense lobbying during which three high-level EU envoys will be in Kiev during Tuesday's parliamentary session on the fate on Tymoshenko and President Viktor Yanukovych will meet with some EU leaders.

Germany has insisted that the continued imprisonment of Tymoshenko is putting the whole project of rapprochement in danger. It believes that her jailing was politically motivated.

"It is not yet clear whether Ukraine is willing to create the conditions for a signature," Merkel told the German parliament in Berlin, saying she would not be appeased with "lip service."

The EU nations have already given Ukraine more time to find a solution for the fate of Tymoshenko and negotiations could go right up to the start of the Nov. 28-29 summit in Vilnius.

The EU hopes Ukraine's parliament will push through laws this week to meet their concerns over the prosecutor's office and electoral conditions.

Former Polish President Aleksander Kwasniewski and former European Parliament President Pat Cox have been working for months to settle differences and will continue their efforts up to the start of next week's summit.

"Cox and Kwasniewski are still working and as long as they are working" a solution is possible, Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt said.

"Everything is in the hands of President Yanukovych," Bildt said. "We have a policy. I am not quite certain that he has a policy."

BRUSSELS (AP) — German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Monday led European Union calls for Ukraine to reform its judicial system beyond the case of jailed former prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko before the bloc signs any association agreement with Kiev.